iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 04/11/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #92 Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince Nintendo Switch backloggery.com/mrshotgun

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince key art. The three heroes of the Trine, Amadeus the Wizard, Zoya the Thief, and Pontius the Knight, look confident and prepared for anything that may come towards them. Behind them, a dark figure stands on a bluff, looking over a shadowed valley.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #91 Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Epic Games Store backloggery.com/mrshotgun

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League key art. Task Force X team members Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, and Deadshot cavort acrobatically through the air in front of a white, desaturated image of the Metropolis cityscape.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 01/11/2024

in this town we call home everyone hail to the pumpkin song

A solved 15x15 nonogram puzzle depicting a jack-o-lantern with a crooked smile and slanted, menacing eyes.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 31/10/2024

Well, the Chase bank in downtown Portland has made it clear how they think election night is gonna go.

A Chase bank in downtown Portland with plywood nailed across all its windows.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 31/10/2024

This was supposed to be the game I reviewed for a Halloween time review but the release date got pushed back. Probably a good thing because I should take the time to see if this expands into a full platform or if these two are the only games that end getting made.

A physical copy of RetroRealms Double Feature Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead for Switch set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

Ohh today is a very good day for new arrivals.

Physical copies of A Little to the Left Extra Tidy Edition and Core Keeper for Switch set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

You don't wanna mess with a purple ghost, purple ghosts will fuck you up.

A solved 10x15 nonogram puzzle depicting a ghost.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

Either I've had a stroke of inspiration or I need to visit the Two Point Hospital healthcare network.

A solved 10x15 nonogram puzzle depicting a light bulb.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

It's a microscope. Or a stand mixer.

A solved 10x15 nonogram puzzle depicting a microscope.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 29/10/2024

Here was a cool thing I noticed in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League: After I finished a story mission, I spotted Batman spying on us from a nearby statue. When I climbed up to him, he vanished.

Harley Quinn looking along a ruined Metropolis Skyline. A colossal space ship shaped liked a skull gazes down on the city with disturbing, purple eyes. Huge black discs float along the sky, casting beams of purple energy onto rooftops. From on top of a statue of Wonder Woman, Batman can just be seen looking down on Harley Quinn.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 28/10/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #90 Cocoon Nintendo Switch backloggery.com/mrshotgun

Cocoon key art. A bipedal creature with arm-like wings looks into a sphere containing rocky mesa, which contains a sphere containing a green swamp, which contains a sphere that contains purple clouds.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 26/10/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #89 Europa Nintendo Switch backloggery.com/mrshotgun

Europa key art. Protagonist Zee, a boy in a red cape with a rocket strapped to his back, looks across a lush, green landscape filled with advanced, but decayed structures. An island flies in the sky in the top-left corner and the planet Jupiter is seen in the distance, partially masked by atmosphere and clouds.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League ain't so bad to start out. I suspect I'll like the game fine until I hit the Live Service garbage, which I won't play, so I'll just say "I liked the game fine."

Harley Quinn, dressed in prison garb, looks at a commemorative plaque for Arleen Sorkin. From Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Harley Quinn, dressed in prison garb, looks at a commemorative plaque for Kevin Conroy. From Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

Two of these games would be materially improved if they also had Adventure Lines.

Physical copies of Cult of the Lamb and The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe for Switch and Resident Evil 4 Xbox Series X set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

I'm not sure what this account used to be but clearly somebody had their account compromised and recreated into this abomination. ...oh wait did this used to be Sarah Scribbles account? Guess it was fake after all.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

Time for it to really start bothering me that I've never successfully finished a Darkest Dungeon campaign, despite four or five sincere attempts. I always get burned out in the third tier of bosses. I predict before the end of the year I will have started a new campaign.

Physical copies of Darkest Dungeon II and Tin Hearts for Switch set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

Mailed off my jury vote to send Trump to prison.

A large, steel ballot drop box set on brick flooring flanked by white flower planters.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

Check out Mikey, a "Skilled Master" who has had 30 jobs and massive governmental experience (none elected). He wants to govern by Twitter poll.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

This guy actually sounds awesome.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 23/10/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #88 Undead Nightmare Red Dead Redemption Nintendo Switch backloggery.com/mrshotgun

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare key art. Protagonist John Marston is resurrected as a rotting zombie, with green skin around his face except for his nose and around his mouth, where the flesh has rotted completely away, revealing bare muscle and bone. He wears tattered clothes, a red bandanda and a vest over a torn white shirt. Across his chest is a belt of large caliber bullets. He points a broad-barrelled short firearm at the viewer.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #87 God of War Ragnarök PlayStation 4 backloggery.com/mrshotgun

God of War Ragnarök key art. Protagonists Kratos and Atreus stand on a frozen glacier, near a fissure. Kratos is a tall, imposing man with ash white skin and a red stripe tattoo across on eye. He wields a massive axe, but he's so strong he can bear it with one hand. Atreus is a boy in his late teens with a red fauxhawk and wielding a wooden bow. Both are dressed in armor with warming additions.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 20/10/2024

If it burns your nose hairs, you know you're getting close.

A solved 10x15 nonogram puzzle depicting an alchemy flask, filled with liquid, with smoke billowing from its mouth.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 19/10/2024

I think these guys might be onto something here that could solve all of the post office's problems.

A physical copy of Mail Mole for Switch set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

Advertise your account with one image

Fred Rogers using crayons to draw a simple box house and stick figures on a large pad of paper attached to an easel. Across five panels, he explained, "I'm not very good at it. But it doesn't matter. It's the fun of doing it that's important. No matter how anybody says it is. It feels good to have made something."

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

Hoping to get some knowledge from the comic book fans out there. Is there a term for this speckling pattern? I've seen it in comic books but I have no idea what it's called so I have no way of researching it. Is it a deliberate choice? A result of the printing process? Please lend your expertise.

An image from Dungeons of Hinterberg, depicting Renaud, a too-serious man dressed all in black, with slicked black hair, a black van dyke beard, black sunglasses, and black sword strapped to his back. The texture of the image is embellished by a speckling pattern.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

Good news, everybody, you can now use the child-like and pacifist creation of a mad scientist to shoot other players in Fortnite with cartoon guns.

A stylized version of Edward Scissorhands, the gentle and pacifist creation of a mad scientist with a childlike face and scissors for hands, created to be a playable character in Fortnite,

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #86 The Fear Business Steam backloggery.com/mrshotgun

The Fear Business key art. In an image stylized like an an ad for an old horror movie, two figures in black cloaks lit by bloodred light stand menacingly in the shadows. Their white, skull-like faces are barely visible beneath their hoods.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

The cat is very interested in Alarmo.

A brown tabby cat investigating a Nintendo Alarmo set up at the corner of a bed.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

Now I'm being startled from a restful sleep with power. Nintendo Power.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

I'm trying to write and my legs have been co-opted as the supports for a cat's hammock.

A brown tabby cat sitting on a blanket suspended between a pair of erect legs like a hammock.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

Sometimes you gotta have fun with your outlines.

A block of text cut from a text processor. It reads
REVIEW Dungeons of Hinterberg (October 19th)
Introduction of Hinterberg
Time of Hinterberg
Explorable Areas of Hinterberg
Combat of Hinterberg
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Social Sims of Hinterberg
Plot and Themes of Hinterberg
Conclusion of Hinterberg

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

It's.... a ghost seen in profile?

A solved 10x15 nonogram puzzle depicting... something with a round top and a pointed bottom with two sharp edges, I can't tell what it is.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

My cat doesn't care about fresh laundry, is she broken.

A brown tabby cat witb a white muzzle and sock markings lounging on a plush blanket.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 14/10/2024

Joker and Vyse both look a little strange here.

Physical copies of Balatro and Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire for Switch set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 14/10/2024

#AndrewBeatsVideogames 2024 #85 Dungeons of Hinterberg Game Pass Xbox Series X backloggery.com/mrshotgun

Dungeons of Hinterberg key art. Protagonist Luisa leaps in the middle of the frame, dressed in a green jacket and tight exercise pants, holding a sword as though to swing it with great effort. She leaps in front of a purple beam of energy that bisects the image. On the left side is Hinterberg, a European mountain village filled with normal people and a suspended railcar line. On the right side is a dark quarry filled with fantasy monsters, black figures wearing masks that give them identity.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 10/10/2024

Holy crap how did I miss this week's puzzle.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 10/10/2024

If they tried harder they could have fit two or three more brand names in this title. Commercialism has gotten so lazy.

A physical copy of LEGO 2K Drive for Switch set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 08/10/2024

It really is impossible not to read this dynamic happening in politics when you have this educational background.

A Bluesky post from more than two months ago from user @playcritically. It reads "Trump has always been the antagonist, which is why Biden had to be the hero who overcomes his personal flaws to save the day and Trump is Orcus waiting on his throne to be vanquished by the heroes."

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 08/10/2024

I gave money to @susanarendt.bsky.social in exchange for goods and services (but I still want a peanut).

Physical copies with manuals of Super Mario Allstars, Family Feud, Jeopardy! Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past, and Complete In Box copies of Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Pitfall The Mayan Adventure, all for SNES, set on an ugly carpet.

Physical copies with manuals of The Illusion of Gaia and Super Mario World, Complete In Box copies of Pieces, Spindizzy Worlds, and Super Game Boy, and loose carts of Super Mario Kart, F-Zero, Arcana, and Donkey Kong Country 3, all for SNES, set on an ugly carpet.

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Andrew Brown @playcritically.bsky.social · 08/10/2024

Google, what the hell is this. What have you done to the Outline. Google, I want you to set up a mirror and write the letters N-O in it in big capital letters, and whenever you get the urge to change something, I want you to look in that mirror and let it shout NO at you until the urge goes away.